The Los Angeles Clippers are viewed as one of the best teams in the league going into next season. They have two superstar-level players in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, as well as a deep roster with a lot of solid role players. They have enough talent to make the Finals and potentially win an NBA championship.
Despite this, former Clippers All-Star Norman Nixon had some doubts about the Los Angeles Clippers’ status as a contender, suggesting that he wants to wait to see if players can stay healthy and “get a string of games together”. However, Nixon also admitted that the Clippers will be a “competitive team” if they manage to stay healthy. There’s no doubt that health has been a problem for the Los Angeles Clippers over the course of the last few years, with both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard missing a lot of time. Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints relayed the news.
Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard is expected to make his return to the LA Clippers’ lineup from a 15-month layoff. The team added John Wall in free agency and is looking poised for a championship run. If, of course, they can stay healthy.
“We gotta see how healthy everybody is,” Nixon said. “I don’t jump on these bandwagons. We gotta see if these guys can play and get a string of games together. If they do, you’re gonna have a competitive team as well as the Lakers. They’ll be competitive too – IF they can stay healthy and that’s the if.”
The Los Angeles Clippers have good depth with solid players around the roster, so it’s likely that they will be able to make up for Paul George and Kawhi Leonard missing some time during the regular season. However, the Los Angeles Clippers will need both of their stars to be healthy come postseason to make a deep playoff run, as the playoffs is when stars excel. Kawhi Leonard has shown that he can be a No. 1 option on a championship-caliber team in the past, and perhaps he can help the Los Angeles Clippers win their first one next year. If they’re healthy, the Clippers definitely have a shot of winning it all.
With that being said, the Western Conference will certainly be tough next season, and the Los Angeles Clippers will have a lot of competition in trying to get to the Finals. However, with Kawhi Leonard at the helm, they will have a good chance of winning at the highest level.
